Barbarian Invasion
by Minodrin
Summary: An after action report of the Western Roman Empire at a very hard difficulty.
1. Chapter 1

Barbarian Invasion 

This game is played with Rome: Total War, Barbarian Invasion. I'll play the Western Roman Empire, starting in summer 363. The difficulty will be Very Hard for campaign and Hard for battles. I will manage all settlements myself, and I won't have a battle time limit. The unit sizes will be maximal.

I have only played one Western Roman Empire campaign before this, with medium difficulty, and even then several cities revolted away and it was very difficult. So, I hope this will make it more interesting to read than "Everything went fine from day 1 and then I won".

The names are made out of three parts, with the second part the family name and the third what the character is called.

Chapters I and II are background, the action starts in chapter III.

Chapter I: The death and birth of the imperial families 

The fall of the Roman Empire began with the death Emperor Marcus Aurelius Commodus Antonius, commonly known as Commodus on the 21st of April in the year 181 AD, exactly 934 after the founding of the city. No one knew it then, but because of this it might very well never have seen it's millennial. It is rumored that Commodus said just weeks before he was killed, that 'One can not have an empire without an emperor'. He was right.

Commodus was killed by a man named Decimus Meridius Maximus, former legate of the emperors Felix legions. It should be noted that Maximus, as he was called, never served under Commodus, but rather under the previous emperor Marcus Aurelius. After defeating the Marcomanni in Germania in late April, he moved to Vindobona with the army, where Marcus Aurelius and Commodus had arrived a few days earlier. A few days after that the Emperor was dead, and the very same night Maximus had vanished.

Later Roman historians speculated that even if the Emperor was said to have died of old age, it stands to reason that Maximus killed him. "Maximus, Death of Emperors" was a common war cry for the republic armies in the civil wars and rebellions that followed.

How Maximus came from Vindobona to Rome as a slave-gladiator is not known. His owner, Proximo, was killed a few days before the death of Commodus, and any other slaves that might have known about it vanished shortly after. Nor is it known why Commodus chose to fight Maximus on the arena. The most common explanation is pride.

During the battle the deceptiveness of the Praetorian Guard, the emperors private guard, was shown once again. After losing his sword, Commodus asked the guards for another one, but was refused. He was forced to attack Maximus with all he had left, a small knife, but Maximus, who was a stronger man, killed Commodus by sticking it in his throat. Maximus also died soon thereafter because of his wounds.

As his final wish Maximus asked that the senate be given full power again. Senator Gracchus became the strong man of the senate, who begun to lower the size of the army in favor of domestic construction. The Praetorian Guard took as its new objective the defense of the Senate. Senator Gracchus tried to balance the power of the Praetorians with the Felix legions, Maximus old command. It was a spectacular failure however, and the legions were barred from the city by a mob of angry citizens, and under the new army-reduction program it was the first large unit to be disbanded.

Meanwhile Commodus sister, Lucilla, left Rome with her son Lucius Verus. They went to the east, where they traveled around for almost a decade. They also spent three years in the Parthian Empire. When the senate heard of this several senators feared that Lucius and her mother Lucilla were attempting to offer the Parthians Asia Minor in return for supporting Lucius on the throne. Some senators, Gracchus at the lead, insisted that neither Lucius or his mother would do any such things, but as rumors came that the Parthians were building an army, the number who trusted Lucius sank dramatically, and in the end only Gracchus was left. In April 190 he was finally forced out of the senate.

The senate did not wait long after that to take action. An assassin were sent to kill Lucius, and in January 191 they succeeded while Lucius was visiting Hyrcania with Lucilla. Unfortunately the assassin, Pudens, was captured and tortured until he told the Parthians and Lucilla who had sent him.

Lucilla went berserk, and rode back to Roman lands, stopping at every village and town to ask for allies in a war against the Senate. She did not have much luck initially, the Parthians were not willing for a war, and in the Roman areas she only got a few allies, mostly tribal or city leaders who usually wanted independence from Roman taxes. It was only in summer that she finally had luck, when the governor of Egypt, Primus Valerius Dacien took her as his visitor to Alexandria, promised her 20.000 men. Dacien also proclaimed that Egypt could not suffer beneath a council of murderers, and then named himself Dacien the first king of the Valerian dynasty of Egypt. It is not known what Lucilla felt about all of this, but she got her 20.000 men "to bring freedom to the rest of the world from the rule of murderers".

She chose to march northwards towards the Sea of Marmara, recruiting mercenaries and allies in every city that she could. She defeated one Senatorial army at the village of Belkis in Syria, and another one near Tavium in Galata. After her army had passed by law and order almost always broke down, and there were several rebellions against Roman rule. One remarkable revolt took place in Judea, where Jews moved in from Egypt, the Parthian Empire and other provinces in hopes of reforming their ancient kingdom.

By the time Lucillas army had passed over from Asia, her army was 60.000 men strong, of which about 25.000 men were mercenaries and about 10.000 Egyptian men. Another senatorial army with 8 legions tried to defeat her just a few days after she had crossed, but she managed to defeat it by smashing it head on. However this victory cost her a third of her army, now holding only 40.000 men with 18.000 mercenaries.

She still moved on however, claiming she would kill every senator and senators lackey in Rome that she could find. In March 194 she occupied Thessaloniki. Her army was tired after defeating the army after the straits and suffering 5.000 more dead taking the city. The mercenaries demanded that they be allowed to loot the city in return for their services, but Lucilla refused their demands. In fact she killed 5 soldiers who had killed or raped the citizens, and had another 30 whipped for robbery. In gratitude for saving the city, the magistrates offered Lucilla their unquestioned loyalty, and 2.000 men from the city joined Lucillas army. She only spent 3 days in the city, left three men to keep watch and report to her, then moved on.

4 months later she took Dyrrhachium. While the magistrates in Thessaloniki had promised her money to pay for the army, she had only gotten letters that spoke of the damage the siege had done, and how there was no gold to find. Again the mercenaries demanded that they be given the right to loot the city, and again Lucilla refused their request.

The army was also worried because traders in the city spoke of another senatorial army, this one 60.000 men strong. Within the army the rumor escalated, and soon everyone the size of the enemy army was up to 200.000 men, and it was said to be less than 2 weeks away.

Lucilla sent half the cavalry to move ahead and try to see the size and location of the senate's army. One week later one man of the cavalry returned, dead and dragged by his horse. When the news of this reached the mercenaries, who Lucilla had camped outside the city, they began to rebel in great numbers. First a few single men, then whole companies. Most decided to try and loot the city while there was still time, they had still not gotten paid. Within one day the entire city was in flames, the mercenaries were all gone and Lucilla was dead. It was claimed that a group of mercenaries broke into the palace she slept in, raped her, killed her, then took everything they could carry and ran away. In the end only 4.000 men of her army was left, and in the week that followed most left for home, with only 500 men remaining as the senatorial army reached the city.

Their commander, Tertius Hirtius Buteo hoped to make the senate pay one last time for all their crimes, but the city rose up in revolt and killed Buteo and his men. The senate's army marched into Dyrrhachium trough open gates and was greeted by cheering citizens.

When word arrived to Thessaloniki of what had happened, Lucillas three men were captured and sent as prisoners to Rome, where they were killed.

During this revolt Dacien in Egypt managed to consolidate his rule, and the Jews form a kingdom centered in Jerusalem. Also, after Lucilla moved away from Asia and had her last victory on the field, the Parthians saw their chance and moved into Asia Minor and other areas close to Parthian rule.

The senate had problems in the west as well. Between the death of Commodus and recon quest of the lands in the east, 6 generals tried to rebel and declare themselves Emperors. Dardanus in Gaul in 191, Zeno in Africa in 194, Hilarius in Gaul in 202, Honoratius in Dalmatia in 202, and finally Falx in Hispania in 230. Flax was the most successful, and managed to besiege Rome for two weeks before being driven off and finally defeated in 237.

It is said that if the rebel emperors cost the senate half, then the wars to retake the east cost the other half. When they were finally all taken back in 247 the eastern provinces were severely destroyed and depopulated, General Magnus rebelling in 202 and General Carbo in 236 did little to help the war effort or the reconstruction. The victory did little to regrow the confidence of the Roman republic; the real reason for the final conquest was Persia falling into civil war, where the Sassanid dynasty finally won in 249.

By 250 the republic was in a real decline. The senate focused heavily on rebuilding the east, but it seemed to forget about the west. Bandits made trade difficult, and when the Franks, Saxons and Alemanni started doing raids into Germania and Gaul, many legions were sent to the border and away from fighting bandits and other rebels. One Aleman army even reached Hispania and raided the countryside for 3 years there before returning north.

With trade becoming ever more difficult, prices rose almost everywhere. To offset this the senate began to mint more coins with less gold and silver in them. This worked for a while, but over the next 50 years inflation became massive. Because of this economic life even within the cities started to stagnate and fall, and the state institutions became abandoned. Farming output also sank even though the people from the cities moved away to the countryside.

In the east things were better. Between 260 and 276 the Sassanids tried to retake the lands that the Senate had retaken earlier. General Decimus Flavius Crito won 10 battles against the Sassanids, and defeated another rebel General, Tatian, in 268. In thanks for this they offered him the command of the military forces in the east, which he used effectively to break any rebels and uprisings.

In 286 the Germanic tribes formed an alliance and moved westwards in force. The senate called on Crito to defend them. Crito had at best 50.000 men with him, while usually the Germanians had over 100.000, at some points in the campaign over 200.000. They managed to sack large parts of Germania, Gaul, Rhaetia and Noricum. One Aleman army reached within a day's walk of Mediolanum before it was defeated, and another smaller force invaded Britannia as well.

In 291 Crito was preparing a larger invasion of inner Germania, when he was called back to Rome. His successes had produced jealously and fear in the senate in Rome. Senator Felix had convinced many of the others that Crito meant to declare himself an Emperor, and that he should be killed before it was too late.

When Crito found out about the plot against him, he was already in Rome. He tried to escape back to his army in Germania, but Praetorians captured him just outside the city gates, and they killed him instantly.

Meanwhile, his firstborn son, Primus Flavius Vonones, became governor of Thracia in 290. He was also a sound general; he had defeated a large Arab army while he was governor of Syria in 289. When he read that his father had been killed, he decided that the Senate probably meant to kill him too. He assembled five legions, or about 30.000 men, and begun to march northwest, hoping to reach his fathers army in Germania, where another 7 legions with 40.000 men would be. Of his own army two legions were real soldiers, the other three were peasants, pikemen and archers that he had drafted from the province. Of the Germanian army all 7 divisions were veteran soldiers, although only one of them was Italian, the other 6 were of Gallic and Germanian stock.

The murder of Crito also started another, popular, backslash against the Senate. The people, especially the Italians who believed his successes saved them from the same horrors that happened in the other provinces to the north, had loved him. Vonones reached the Germanian army in November, and immediately began to march south. His march over the Alps made the senate try to equal him to Hannibal. The senate shipped soldiers over from Hispania and Africa; Vonones was well liked in the east, while the army the senate formed in Greece marched towards Thracia.

Vonones defeated the senatorial forced four times, first at Verona, then north of Ravenna. The third time he fought them by the Rubicon, where the entire senatorial army was destroyed except for the few men who swam over the river and then disbanded themselves. The last time was when Rome was already in sight. The senate sent forth the rest of their forces, including fresh troops from Africa. Volones defeated them as well, but decided to camp for the night before moving on to Rome.

Meanwhile the senate was in a panic. There were no more forces, and they felt like the city might rise up against them any minute in order to be spared from having an army march into Rome and possibly loot it. The leader of the Praetorian Guard, Pontius Ursus offered to smuggle the whole senate and their families out to safety, he claimed that with the ships in Ostia they should be able to escape and fight another day. During the night they assembled and began to march out the city. Ursus said that they would march trough the forest to avoid being seen, which sounded wise to the senators. But instead he betrayed them and marched the whole senate straight into Vonones camp.

The next day Vonones marched into the city with the senators and their families in chains, all the senators in one link of chains and their families in another. First he made them declare him emperor of the Roman realm. After they had done that, he told them "This is what it feels like to have your family killed," and ordered his soldiers to kill every single family member while other soldiers held onto the senators and their chain. After that he let the senate look at their dead families for a while, before he executed them as well.

The next day he called on the Praetorian Guard to meet him. He told them not to bring any swords or armor with them, because the gift he would give them for giving him the senate would be heavy enough for them to carry later on without any extra weight. Then he ordered his soldiers to kill the Praetorian Guard as well, and hunt down the members of it who had not shown their faces today. "Never trust a betrayer, even if it is your enemy that he betrayed," he said. During the campaign he had learnt to trust his Germanic soldiers, and promoted the best of them as his personal guard.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter II: Civil wars and a split empire. 

OT : I will multiply all the city and unit numbers by 10 for this AAR. This will make the numbers more realistic in my opinion, for example Rome would have about half a million citizens instead of 50.000 for example, and battles could have over 20.000 soldiers instead of just a few thousand.

While the senate was not loved, it had at this point ruled Rome for over 100 years, and the tales of what Vonones had done did little to make the people trust him. The governors in Hispania, all of Africa, half of Gaul, Britannia, Greece, Dalmatia, Dacia, Moesia, Pannonia, Galatia, Commagene and southern Italy decided to fight him. It took some time for the east to be able to muster, but in 294 the other provinces were fully in control of forces loyal to Vonones, and in 295 Galatia and Commagene were overrun. The Greek army that had marched on Thracia turned around after word came there that Vonones had captured the fleet at Ostia. In Moesia the Governors formed a joint army with 25.000 men that marched towards Thracia and the east.

Meanwhile Vonones had subdued the rest of the Italian peninsula and the islands close to it. In Africa General Esdras also declared himself emperor, and began a campaign to conquer Numidia and Mauretania.

Vonones was forced to leave large forces behind in the areas that he conquered, Italy had still been spared the worst parts of the senates bungling, and the people were still loyal to the republic. The Sassanids tried to use the situation to their advantage, and they invaded the east in 293. The Roman soldiers in the area were well trained, but they lacked real leadership, and the war became a stalemate with both sides sometimes taking a city, sometimes losing it. In any case, the east was unable to send any large forces to the west, but the city of Byzantium just west of the Bosporus was supplied by sea with food and men and the senatorial forces were unable to take it.

In Germania the tribes had been well beaten, and were unable to launch anything more than small raids, but in the south the Berbers were able to do havoc in Mauretania. In 295 Emperor-General Esdras moved a large force west to capture it after having taken most of Numidia the two previous years.

In Italy, Vonones had formed an army with 20.000 men, and decided to send it to the south to capture Africa. The harvest in Italy had been poor in 294, and he needed the food to make the Italians love him. The campaign went well, in 296 Africa was his, and the next spring he subdued Numidia as well. Esdras had met a large Berber force somewhere in the desert, and had been killed. Vonones decided that Mauretania would not be worth the fight, especially as senatorial armies had finally taken over the Germanian provinces and were currently besieging Mediolanum.

Over the next 10 years he fought several battles in Gaul, Germania and Hispania, finally conquering each of them. Revolts in recently captured cities were common, but finally each of them fell. In 308 he invaded Britannia, and conquered it in 310. In 311 he began his campaign to take over everything up to Byzantium, Dalmatia, Greece and the northeast were still very much controlled by republican forces.

The senatorial defense of these provinces was poor. They lost every battle they went into, they had little food to survive sieges, and the commands to the armies were lost or sent to the wrong places. In 314 the Goths moved into Dacia, defeated the senatorial forces there and began to settle. In 316 Vonones tried to retake Dacia from them, but their heavy cavalry managed to break Vonones lines at two key battles, and he was forced to pull back and sign a treaty with the Goths giving them Dacia.

At the sight of this a senatorial army tried to march north from Thessaloniki to defeat the remaining forces of Vonones. While the senatorial army was over twice the size of Vonones, he was still able to defeat it. It took a few years however for Vonones to be able to march against Greece, and the last senatorial fort there fell only in 321 on Crete.

He had seen during the war how big and ungovernable the Empire was, and decided to split it into two parts, a western and eastern part. It took some time for him to plan it, but in 325 the final borders of the parts were decided. The capital of the eastern empire would be in Byzantium, the western capital in Massila, and the capital of the whole Empire in Rome. The elder son, Valentinianus, became leader, or Augustus, of the western part, while the younger son Valens became Augustus of the eastern part.

There were 12 years of peace, until a new crisis broke out in 337 when Vonones, Valentinianus, Valens and several other family members converted to Christianity. At first there was little uproar, the old Roman gods had slowly by constantly fallen away from use, and the Empire was filled with new and interesting religions. But when the Emperors declared Christianity a state religion in 339 and forbad worship of other gods in 343, a new wave of rebellions sprung up. It did little to help that Vonones died early in 344, and the two brothers were unable to agree on who should be the new emperor. Instead they decided that the Roman Empire should from now on have two emperors, Augusti, each with a heir and sub-emperor called Caesar to aid him.

In the west, the initial wave of religious violence lasted until 350, and Valentinianus became known as the Wrathful. Whenever he saw a pagan, a non-Christian, he would attack the man with his bare fists, often not stopping until the man was dead or had converted. Valentinianus had otherwise a bad temper too, but he was still a good politician and managed to bribe his enemies off and keep the cities in order. Unfortunately the wealth of the Western Empire was sinking all the time, and while he did try to keep good and well trained units in the cities, they were very few everywhere in the cities but in the Germanian border.

He did his best for as long as he could, but in 363 it was finally at an end, the state coffers would not support the army for one year longer unless something drastic was made.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter III, 363 A.D. 

In 363 Primus Flavius Valentinianus Augustus the Wrathful (62) rules the Western Roman Empire (WRE). His sons are Primus Flavius Leontius Caesar (46), Secundus Flavius Aulus (45), Tertius Flavius Caius (44) and Quintus Flavius Cassius(43), each has three to four sons.

http/img. finances of Rome, as well as the map and some of the armies.

The WRE controls Italy, Africa, Numidia, Hispania, Gaul, Germania Superior and Inferior, Pannonia, Noricum, Raetia and Britannia, for a total of 25 provinces. The only areas and cities with a Christian majority are in Italy, although most of the other provinces have 10-20 Christians in them.

Summer 363 

-

"Out of money! Are you telling me that the Roman Nation that has stood for hundreds of years is OUT OF MONEY!" Valentinianus shouted at senator Ianuarius. The senate had been virtually powerless since Valentinianus father of course, but it still existed to fulfill the Emperors orders and make the patricians believe they still had some way to complain to the emperor.

"No no, not yet, today. But we either need to pay less to our armies or by the birthday of our lord we will be as poor, materially that is, as he was. But rich in spirit, as him, we are. But there is no more money." Ianuarius said. He had been with Valentinianus a long time; he knew the Emperor would vent his rage at someone more unimportant than him. He had been wrong about that few times, but what man would not accept a beating for the good of the empire.

"Damn you. I should gut you and throw you to the lions for dinner. There will be money!"

"Well, lower costs for the arenas are one possibility, I suppose."

Ianuarius remark was replied by a fist in his stomach. "Disband the army, will we? Perhaps it is the senate I should disband. Maybe I'll start right NOW!" Valentinianus shouted and kicked Ianuarius while the man lay on the floor. Val might be 62, but he could still show everyone who was boss here. "Servants, bring me the whipping boy, I still have need for this man here," he shouted out to the men standing at the edge of the room. Two of them ran away to get the whipping boy. Val liked the new one they had found, he screamed so loud when whipped that Val quickly calmed down. "And get him away from here," he said to the remaining servants.

"Wi.. will you think about it?" the senator said as he was carried away by three of the servants. Valentinianus hated to think about it. It was all the fault of the senate and rebels, and now a senator would try to tell him that he should disband the army. Maybe the senate should have done it when they were in power instead of blaming him.

The servants brought whipping boy a bit later and bound him up so that Valentinianus could begin whipping. A while later he stopped when he had calmed down enough. He was surprised, whipping boys skin was hardly even broken. Maybe he hadn't been as angry as he though.

It came to him in a vision during the night. The people were poor because they were not with the lord. They worshipped their idols and plotted against him in their strange cults. What the nation needed was a strong, Christian church that could lead the people away from the darkness. And by looting all the pagan temples he would make enough money to build Christian churches in their stead.

-

A few days later he sent an order. All cavalry units except for one in Burdigala, one in Massilia and the family members personal guards were going to be disbanded. Most of the old temples were also going to be destroyed, and in some cities other buildings were also to be sold for gold. In the most rebellious cities the barracks were to be destroyed and the weapons melted, he could not risk any potential rebels gaining them if he needed to lower the size of the army.

However, except for the very expensive cavalry units, the army would for now not be lowered much. Instead freemen militias would be formed for policing the cities after which the real legions could be disbanded or sent to fight rebellions and barbarians.

Winter 363 

Treasury 3330 gold

The first half year of Valentinianus "New Christian Nation" saw massive civil uprisings all over the empire. In 13 of the 25 provincial capitals there were a total of 92280 civilian and 3270 military deaths.

-

"Hello baby brother" Marcus said to Oppius "How was your wedding? Better than mine, I hope?" he continued.

"Yes, I wish you had come, it was the greatest day of my life. First we were joined, and then me and my men drank all the evening and half the night until the first one dropped out. Then the rest carried my wife over their heads until she came to me. Then I just carried her to my bed and kept pumping and pumping until dawn, and then I pumped some more. My stamina and all that training really paid itself back," Oppius said. He did not bother to say that their father, Leontius Caesar, had come to see the feast halfway in. He had shouted for a while that Oppius should obey his father and have a good Christian wedding instead. Oppius was glad when he finally left and the feast could continue again.

"No problems with citizens? You had some rebellions here, didn't you?" Marcus asked.

"Nothing after last time. I keep my men and myself in shape, I'd like to see the rabble that can defeat us. Hah." Oppius said. Marcus was the only family member with an army in the field and had sent letters everywhere, asking several times where the rebels might be strong enough to take over the city. It had begun to annoy Oppius, but he didn't say anything. "Is it true what happened at your wedding Primus?" Oppius asked Marcus.

"Yes."

"Yes?"

"Yes."

"You mean that your bride slipped in the mud and soiled her clothes."

"Yes."

"And then her mother ran out and began to shout at her how stupid and worthless she was so that she started crying?"

"Yes."

"Until her father also ran out, took the mother by her pussy, then lifted her up and away?"

"Yes, also that."

"And when you finally were going for the bedding, she ran out of the room shouting that it was too big?"

"Yes."

"And finally when they found her, hiding behind a cow, you spat in her face, shouted that it was bad luck not to have sex on your wedding night, and took her right then and there?"

"It is bad luck. I can't bloody risk bad luck just because some 12-year old hasn't seen a dick before. What would my men say!"

"Was it too big?"

"No, it fit just right," Marcus said, and soon thereafter both of them laughed so hard that it took ages for them to stop. Every time one of them tried to stop laughing the other would comment something about 'Big' or 'Small', and then they would laugh again.

Later on Marcus and Oppius would tour the city. Oppius showed Marcus the new Christian shrine that had been built, and they talked about all the other changes their grandfather had ordered. Marcus complained that he didn't like it, having to use militia instead of real soldiers to guard the city. In most cities the real soldiers still constituted the majority, but in Arles, Oppius city, they had replaced the soldiers fully. Both of them agreed that once the old man died and their father would become Augustus, things would be much better. While they knew their father wasn't the kindest man, both of them had been beaten by their grandfather more than by their father or anyone else. They would both be glad to see him die.

-

Later in the year some attempts to negotiate a ceasefire with the Alemanni were also made, but the roman diplomat was simply laughed out of the barbarian kings hall. When he left their city he promised to them that the next time they saw Romans they would be carrying iron instead of words. The Aleman king shouted back that it suited him just fine.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter IV: A burning empire Summer 364 

Treasury -1437 gold

The messenger walked slowly into the room where Valentinianus was posing for his personal sculptor. He had already come to the city yesterday, but knowing the temper of the Emperor he had decided to spend one last night with a woman, no-one could say what the emperor would do when he got the rage. "Augustus, we have received word that a major revolt has taken place in Carthago Nova. Your grandson Publius decided that the situation was unwinnable, and withdrew outside the city to conserve the lives of his men. He says that at least 20.000 citizens were killed, but he did not lose a single man," the messenger said.

For a few minutes Valentinianus did not move, and the sculptor silently continued to work on the life-sized sculpture of the Emperor. Finally Valentinianus turned his head towards the messenger and asked, "Has my grandson retaken the city?"

"No, but his forces are just outside the city walls."

"Are you telling me?" the emperor said, then paused "That my grandson," he continued, then paused again "HAS LOST CARTHAGO NOVA AND THUS THE ENTIRE PROVINCE OF CARTHAGINIENSIS!" he shouted in the face of the messenger.

"Yes, but with our forces intac..." the messenger said.

"You are bringing me news that after Noricum, Illyrium and Dalmatia in the east have revolted, now the west is failing me as well. You are telling this to me? You were in the city, weren't you? Why did you come here instead of fighting to the death to keep the city? WHY ARE YOU HERE!"

"Publius, your gr... please Augustus, don't kill me," the messenger said as his legs gave up and he fell to the floor.

Valentinianus kicked the messenger a few times, and then ran around the room screaming at all the people present there what worthless family he had. Finally after throwing a few vases at the floor he calmed down and went back to the messenger. "You will leave Rome today. Tell my grandson that if he does not take back the city, he is not welcome in my realm any more. And when he does take back the city, the citizens there are to be killed and their wealth robbed. Tell him to loot it, to sack it, to exterminate it, whatever, but Carthago Nova is to be made an example what happens to cities that dare revolt." he said to the messenger. "What are you waiting for? GO!" he then shouted, and the messenger began to drag himself away. As Valentinianus moved back to continue posing for his sculptor, a few of the servants came forward to pull the messenger away for healing.

Later in the day he decided what to do about the rebellions in the east. His eldest grandson, Marcus, would march to retake Carnuntum, while his youngest, Spurius, would march from Aquinium to retake Salona. It was apparent though that the forces in Aquinium would have to be reinforced so that another rebellion did not pop up the day Spurius left for Salona.

Later on he discussed the new monetary situation with his favorite senator, Ianuarius. The loss of these provinces and their taxes threw Rome into a nightmare. He would have to disband units everywhere that he could now. After discussing they decided to disband as many Comitatenses and after that foederati infantry units as possible. Those Germanic soldiers were good, but costly to keep, and with the new freemen and peasant militias coming up, and Christian belief on the rise, the situation had improved somewhat in several cities. After all, during the last half year, except for the three rebelling capitals, there had only been unrest in 4 other capitals in contrast to the 13 capitals the last half year for a total of 39620 civilian deaths.

-

Most of the disbanded units where in Italy, and Valentinianus personally held a speech to the almost 10.000 Comitatenses that where disbanded in Rome where he said he admired them for what they were, but that Rome was in need of aqueducts, ports, roads and churches now, not soldiers. The taxes were also normalized or even made heavy where possible. After all this the Roman state would not be in debt after another half year, but it would still be poor. Ianuarius pointed out that when the rebels cities would be recaptured, there would then be enough gold to start to rebuild the empire. Also, Christian missionaries all over the empire reported legions of people converting, in a decade or so the core of the nation could be expected to know the lord. One of the palace servants is known to have remarked how much it pleased Valentinianus that he was not only sawing them in this life, but in the afterlife as well.

During the year a trade-treaty was signed with the Franks. Valentinianus hoped that this would improve the economic strength of the Germanian provinces, although he said it should be apparent that one day Rome would have to get rid of those pesky barbarians, something his grandfather had been planning to do before the senate killed him. Amazing news also reached Rome from the East, where word came that a ceasefire had been signed between the Eastern Roman Empire and the Sassanids. Valentinianus had long since lost contact with his brother, because by rights he should have been made the ruler of both the empires when their father died. Trade was still brisk though, and rumors often came from the east.

The biggest talk was however about Oppius new daughter, Honoria. It had been more than 26 years since a new family member had been born into the Imperial family, and everyone wondered if sons and daughters would start popping up everywhere now.

-

Captain Ardabarus led the forces originally controlling Carnuntum, and had been ordered to besiege the city and build siege weapons that Marcus would be able to use to take the city once he got there. But instead, the rebel general and his men attacked Ardabarus forces, and as he was outnumbered he decided to pull back into the forests. The rebel general did not let go however, and sent a force consisting of archers and peasants into the forest after Ardabarus.

There Ardabarus decided to make his stand. He had one 1460 Foederati Infantry soldiers and 2160 Peasants on his side, and he hoped that his Infantry would be able to kill the enemy that only had peasants and archers, both poor fighters. He decided to wait for them in the forest and spread out his men in a loose formation, because he assumed that the enemy would march close enough to shoot at him with arrows, and then after that he would have to advance.

It all went wrong however when the enemy archers did not stop to shoot, and madly charged his forces. By the time he gave the order to form a close formation, the enemy was already on him. Because he lacked numbers or fast cavalry, he was unable to try to flank the enemy in any way, and decided to simply make a stand, hoping that his soldiers would be able to kill enough of the rebels so that they would run away.

The battle did not last long, and soon his men ran. First the foederati infantry ran away, with Ardabarus among them, and when the peasants saw this, they too became frightened and ran away. He lost 2270 men, while the enemy lost a bit over 1000 men.

Even though the battle had taken place west of Carnuntum, he managed to retreat east around to city towards Aquinium.

-

Winter 364 

Treasury 2499 gold

The second half-year in 364 saw even less violence, this time in only 3 capitals, Avaricum, Syracuse and Augusta Treverorum. In total 49650 civilians and 4860 soldiers died.

Primus Flavius Marcus faced an army led by a Aleman captain. He had moved in front of a river crossing, and instead of going around Marcus decided to gamble and fight him. The captain withdrew before the battle could begin, and confident this was good luck, Marcus decided to move after the army, and was just about to begin combat, when his scouts reported that another Alemanni army, this one led by their king and 8800 men strong, in contrast to the less than 2000 men of the original enemy army. When he heard this Marcus decided to withdraw from battle, and he also asked that reinforcements be sent to him from the settlement to the south, Augusta Vindelicorum, just in case the barbarians decided to attack him instead.

-

"Why did you have to leave me, why?" Valentinianus said as he looked at his wife's, Occelinas, body. "Why did you have to say that to me? I didn't mean to hit you. Come back. Come back!" he said, running his hand over Occelinas blue and red cheek.

The servants just looked on in silence. This time he had hit someone he loved too hard. All Occelina had demanded was that they go to Aquinium to see Spurius wedding and his new wife. Valentinianus had gone mad and shouted that the rebels controlled the area in between, and claimed that she was planning to have him killed. He had had one of his worse days, and beaten her for 10 minutes. In the beginning she had cried out for help, but the servants knew the emperor well enough that trying to help would only get oneself beaten. At least one servant who had tried to stop the emperor had been killed. But it was only in the beginning that she cried out for help, in the middle she was already silent and when Valentinianus stopped she was dead. When the Greek medical-slave had told him that the rest of the servants in the room had run away. The Greek was lucky to survive; he only had one arm and one leg broken.

After the burial Valentinianus locked himself into his palace. He told the servants that if anyone of them told anyone else what had happened, and rumors came out, he would have every single one of them killed just to be sure he killed the right person. In the rest of Rome everyone just though that Occelina had died of old age, and that Valentinianus was in an extended mourning period.

-

Summer 365 

The summer of 363 saw continued decrease in religious violence, as this year there were only uprisings in Syracuse and Augusta Vindelicorum for a total of 11420 civilian and 520 military deaths.

-

"Spurius, I am afraid. What if you don't come back?" Alypia said as she begged Spurius not to go into battle.

"Don't be afraid. The lord marches with me. I will take this here with me," Spurius said as he showed his splinters of the true cross. "Our lord was crucified on this piece of wood here. It still carries his sweat and his blood, and with this he will surely be completely on our side. What army can stand before the lord?" He also packed with him his favorite testaments and holy texts as he let Alypia admire the piece of the true cross.

"I know, but I am just afraid."

"Don't be. He is with us, and if he is not when I go to battle, we still have more and better men than the enemy. I will go with over 8.000 men, I will be surprised if the enemy has even half what I have. And there will only be peasants and archers, a good appetizer for my troops before the real battle in Salona" he said, then put the splinters of the true cross in their special box. "But pray for me in any case."

"I will. I promise."

The next day Spurius marched forward with his armies. The rebels were a few weeks march away, and when they finally reached them, the rebels decided to run away. Spurius decided that he could not let them live and return to their city, Marcus force was smaller than his, and every day that Marcus was besieging Carnuntum was one day that the entire west and north was without a mobile army that could fight the Germanian tribes.

It was about a month after he had marched from Aquinium that he reached the enemy army. He had known he was close, and decided to march trough the night instead of camping. It was a few hours before dawn that they finally met.

It turned out Spurius had been right. The enemy only had one unit of peasants and another unit of archers.

The battle began with the infantry at the front, the cavalry at the flanks, and the archers at the rear. Then he ordered the entire formation to move forward within striking distance of the enemy.

Soon however Spurius got tired of waiting, and ordered his archers to run forward so that they could begin shooting earlier so that the infantry could just keep marching constantly until they could charge the enemy.

The enemy commander saw this and sent his peasants forward to attack. It was a very short battle, as the archers only had time to shoot 3 or 4 volleys before the peasants lost heart and ran away. The fact at the point that the peasants broke the infantry was running and was just behind the archers was the probable cause for the enemy's fear. Spurius ordered his infantry and cavalry to charge the peasants, while he himself charged the remaining archers.

The rest of the battle was short and sweet, as the infantry descended upon the peasants and the archers broke almost at once when Spurius reached them. A few casualties were taken when Spurius archers kept shooting at the peasants even when the infantry was already among them, but they were quite small.

-

In Carthago Nova, Publius sent word that he had too few men to be able to scale the city walls. He asked for a unit of foederati infantry to come from Tarraco to support him, but it was ambushed just a few days walk outside Tarraco by a force of over 10.000 rebel bandits. It was able to evade them and retreat back to Tarraco, but it was unable to continue towards Carthago Nova, especially as the Roman Fleet was in the waters near Rome.

Valentinianus cursed Publius loudly when word of it came to Rome, but offered that Publius could perhaps later hire mercenaries. Right now the state coffers were empty again after the decision had been made to rebuild the damaged buildings in Avaricum, the capital of Lugdinensis.

-

"So, they are attacking me. Isn't that nice. Spares us the trouble of having to go up to them" Marcus said to one of his soldiers. The soldier just nodded. "How stupid of them. Do they even have a single archer with them, what do you think?" Marcus asked the soldier.

"Maybe, but it looks like they have much more cavalry than us."

"Cavalry, pah" Marcus said. "Cavalry is only good for leading men or dying on spears. I'd like to see a cavalry-charge break a well placed infantry unit, but that's not likely to happen ever, is it?" he continued and smiled at his wisdom. The soldier nodded, but still looked at the enemy cavalry.

"You, do you have better eyes than me, or is that a peasant mob in the middle of their line?" Marcus asked the soldier again.

"I don't think that's what I would call a line."

"Good point."

Then Marcus drew his lungs full of air and shouted to his soldiers "Well men, rest a while, fix your shoes, because today you will have to run very much after them if you want a kill to your name. Archers, prepare our enemies a warm welcome to Roman lands. And remember men; the only thing you have to fear is stepping in their shit once you are forced to run after them. Victory!"

"Victory! Flavius Marcus" the men replied.

The battle began as Marcus had said it would, the rain of fire made the enemy panic and the first unit to reach the left flank routed the second the Comitatenses charged. He was wrong about the cavalry however, and in the right flank there was a great battle between Marcus and the enemy commander Hortar, which ended once the Aleman spearmen there routed and Marcus infantry was able to freely charge Hortars cavalry.

During that one unit of Comitatenses had charged after the routing spearmen, and on the same time forced two of the enemies peasant-units to rout as well. Because of this the rest of the infantry was only able to fight one last unit of spearmen that had formed a ring, while Marcus charged after the routing enemies and killed hundreds of them. It was a clear victory for the Roman Empire, and Marcus hoped that the Alemanni would too frightened to attack Rome for the next five years at least.


End file.
